China's America watchers' images of the United States, 1972-1986

This study examines Chinese views of the United States as articulated by China's America watchers. It finds that these images cluster into Marxist and non-Marxist categories, have evolved from the former to the latter between 1972 and 1986, and vary primarily according to the socialization of each America watcher.; Chapter One introduces the pertinent secondary literature in the field of comparative foreign policy and the study of image formation.; Chapter Two profiles the community of 500 America Watchers and categorizes them according to institutional type, locale of rearing, foreign exposure, and higher education.; Chapter Three reveals two ideological debates that were a watershed in the evolving Chinese study of America: the polemics on imperialism and state-monopoly capitalism.; Chapter Four assesses the America Watchers' contrasting images of U.S. monopoly capitalism, economic crises, and the state of the economy during the Carter and Reagan administrations.; Chapter Five examines their images of American domestic politics in the context of roles of non-governmental actors in the political process; the policy-making process in the federal government; social groupings and ideological tendencies in the general polity; and a comparative analysis of the presidential elections from 1972 to 1984.; Chapter Six explicates their images of the conduct of U.S. foreign policy toward the Third World, Soviet Union, and China, and finds that traditional Chinese views of international relations compete with Marxist and non-Marxist images.; Chapter Seven explores the sources of the America Watchers' images according to individual socialization factors, research data and epistemological approaches, systemic change in post-Mao China, and cultural explanations. This study finds that for a sample of 162 America Watchers age and professional role are the major determinants of articulated images although time spent in the U.S. and rearing are also important.; This study concludes that while the America Watchers increasingly articulate non-Marxist images of the United States, Marxist ideology and the Confucian legacy continue to produce a strong ambivalence that has endured for more than two centuries.